In addition to being some of the best athletes in the world, NHL players are some of the ardent sports fans in the world, so don’t think it doesn’t sting a little that they have to miss the biggest World Series game in decades.
While the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers will be playing Game 7 of what has been an epic final tonight, the Edmonton Oilers will be at work.
Instead of kicking back on a comfy couch and watching the game in an 80-inch high definition screen, they’ll be hosting the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place.
“You’d certainly love to be able to sit down and watch from start to finish because this is it,” said forward Adam Henrique. “Being such a big sporting event you want to see it. We’ll try to keep an eye on it beforehand, but obviously you can’t watch, we have to focus on what we have to do.”
The players will be able to catch the first few innings of the 6 p.m. start, but not much. With an 8:11 puck drop, they’ll have to get into their pre-game routines. They can’t be sitting in the players lounge watching baseball five minutes before they have to take on the Blackhawks.
“We’ll have it on a little bit in the background beforehand, but I don’t know how much of it we will actually catch,” said Henrique. “Once you get into your routine, things shut down and you turn everything off and focus on what you have to do. We have work to do.
“Although every time we walk out to the ice and come in during warm ups and intermissions they have it on on the TVs in the fans’ lounge so you can take a quick glance and get an update on the score.”
Trent Frederic was hoping it didn’t come to this, that the Jays could have wrapped it up Friday, but it wasn’t to be. Missing significant events, whether it’s sporting events, birthdays or anniversaries, is part of the gig when you play in the NHL.
“You miss a lot of cool stuff, he said. “I was hoping they would clinch it so we didn’t have to FOMO of missing Game 7.
“I was thinking about recording it. Nowadays there is no way you won’t hear (who won), but it takes a while to get to sleep after a game so even if you know who won you can fast forward through the game and see the highlights.”
There is a famous story of former Oilers coach Pat Quinn watching the Brier between periods of a game, which kind of caught his players by surprise. And another one about when the ’80s Oilers asked former Sun hockey writer Dick Chubey to keep them updated when an Edmonton Eskimos Grey Cup game conflicted with an Oilers game (if Chubey had the fedora on, the Eskimos were winning, if the hat was off, they were losing. So players could look up at the press box and know the situation.)
Daulton Varsho of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning in game one of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Centre on October 24, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario.
Tuning it out
There won’t be any of this tonight. In fact, Goalie Stuart Skinner says he won’t be watching at all, not even in the down time moments before his pre-game stretching begins.
“When it’s game day, I’m not worried about anything else,” he said, adding he understands that fans might have their attention split, with one eye on their phones. “You do notice if there’s a cheer at a random spot in the (hockey) game, and then you’re probably thinking maybe the Jays scored. But no, I’ll be focused on the game tonight.
“I think in a scenario like this, especially in my position, you’ve got to be sharp.”
American born rookie Ike Howard must be agonizing over this, right? Nope.
“It won’t affect me in the slightest,” he said. “I’m a big sports guy but baseball I just don’t care about. I watch NFL, golf, NBA, not really a baseball guy. If I had to pick a team to win… honestly, I really don’t care at the end of the day.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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